Carburation of air for internal-combustion engines



- @ct. 2- 1923. l 471 599 3 G. HAMLTONGRAPES 9 9 GARBURATION OF AIR FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES Filed Feb. 9, 1920 7T! I I! 11/ 6 1 71/1 Patented Och i923.

ITED STATES PAT 1,471,599 ENT oFFicE.

sEoRGEfHAMILTon-eRarEs, or BALWYN, MELBOURNE, 'VIC'I'ORIA, AUSTRALIA.

GARBUBATION OF-AIR FOR INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINES.

Application filgd February To. all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Gnoncn HAMILTON- I GRAPES, a subject of the King of Great Britain, ofzBoston Road, Balwyn, Melbourne, in the State of Victoria, Australia, have invented certain newand useful Improvements Relatin to the Carburation of Air for Internalombustion Engines, of which the following is a specification.

The present Invention is directed to the efficient vaporization of a carburetted mixture to be utilized-as the power agent in the cylinders of internal combustion engines. It

relates to the heating ofa heavier or higher boiling portion of the mixture by the use of I t at of atmospheric up to 500 degrees Fahrf; I or higher irrespective of the number of en'- glne revolutions. That is to say the liquid fuel such as anordinary commercial kerosene mixture wherethe heavier fractions require in the earlier stages of gasification a temperature of not less than Fahr., may be effectively tained against subsequent condensation, throughout a wide range .of engine revolu-' tions as fromAOO to 3000 per minute.

In practical use the invention achieves other and further material objects of advanta%e as will hereafter appear.

- roadly the invention primarily resides in a thermostatically operated yalvular arrangement operating to control the amount of heated gases admitted'to the region of a chamber or retort in which the heavier moist particles in. i the", carburettecl mixture are v trapped during passage from the carburetter to the engine. 2

The invention further includes as a sub si-diary feature the interposition between the said chamber or retort and the delivery orifice of the carburettingdevice' of an expan- I sion chamber which latter is so angularly arranged relativeto the mouth of the retort that the heavier'particles'enter the latter whilst the fuel vapour is free to pass onward to the engine. .The an 1c of incidence of the/mouth of said retort relative to the stream of the fuel carburetter is Y varied in difl'er'ent constructions according to the vola- 350 degrees heated and maincylinder of the engine.

9, 1920. Serial No. 357,190.

tility of the liquid fuel in use, being greater for fuels having heavier than for those havinglighter fractions.

. A further feature contemplates the combinationwitli said retort of a' final expansion chamber delivering to the engine and preferably having a ca acity above that of more than one of the engine cylinders.

Another feature inclu'deduherein is the provision of'means at or about thebefore mentioned merging position effecting a high velocity and turbulence in -the mixture whereby the-heavier particles are deflected to the retort and the Whole mixture more or less disturbed or thrown into a state of turbulence but primarily are deflected and by reason of their greater inertia are deflected into the retort. r

In a practical application of these features the mixtureefi'ected in any usual form .of carburettihg device passes through a duct or chamber of increasing area in the direction of flow which duct merges into one relatively offset or at an angle to' such direction.

This latter ofi'setior' angi'ilar duct passes angularly across the mouth of a retort chamber ca able of receiving the heavy moist partic es in the mixture and permitting the vapour formed therein to return in said oflset duct which latter proceeds to the 'engine preferably through an expansion chamber having a cubical capacity in ex-" cess of and'preferably twice that of any one This expansion chamber is preferably equally restricted at each end charge.

The means provided for setting up turbulence and deflection adjacent to the mouth of theretort consists of one or more baflie plates which may consist of a pairof segmental shaped -plates'located one on either side but not in line on the wall of-the above mentionedex'pansion duct. H

The retort,is jac eted to receiveheated vapourtfrom the exhaust pipe and the quantity admitted is controlled by a deflecting valve operated at the entrance to the said jacket and in'tjhe path of flow in a pipe carryin away the engine exhaust gases.

The isposition of said valve relative to the jacket and exhaust gas flow is automatically varied according to the temperature so that the velocity of the vapourentering same is equal to that of its dlsa d h Q T QQ Qut'by the utilization of the expansion factor of metal the amount of gas deflected into theyjacket being controlled,

according to the valve ositions.

The appended drawings depict an example oi? the invention reduced to practice but the construction and arrangement therein illustrated and herein described is not to be regarded as restrictive of the scope o f my invention as defined in the claims terminating this specification.

Fig. 1 is a sectional plan. Fig. 2 a side elevation.

Fig. 3 a vertical section on line 111- Fig. 1. ig. 4 is asection on line IV- 3. Fig. 5 is enlarged view of baflie plates in initial expansion chamber.

In Fig. 1 of'these drawings the circles 5 indicate the cylindersof a four cylinder'internal combustion engine 6 being, the exhaust manifold which for the purpose of this invention isof rectangular cross section.

-- rosive metals and have relatively widely .ferent co-efl'icients of' expansion.

both see particularly Fi The pipe7 delivers from said manifold to pipe 8 to the atmosphere. Interposed be tween ipes,7 and 8 and communicating with 3) is a heating jacket 9 about the retort c amber 10. Communication of this jacket with the pipe 6 is valvularly, controlled by flapper 'valve- 11 attached to pivot pin 12 operatezl'by the link 13 mounted on end of rod 14. This rod has a terminal foot 15 located within the sphere of action of expansible metal shown consisting of a series of crossed plates such as 16 free at the ends and centrally coupled.

The heat imparted to said plates causes same to assume -a dished or concaved form operating to lift said foot 15 (and rod 14 and cause closing movement of the flapper valve 11. These. metal expansion plates 16 are composed ofcomparatively strong non-con dif- In view ofx its location at the bottom of the jacket 9 out of the direct path of the heating gases from the manifold 6 to pipe 8 and until the retort isv su the expansible metal (16) is effected by the 'lowest temperature obtaining in the jacket 9. When the engine is cold the plates 16 lie in flat position and consequently the flapper valve 11 is in the fully open position shown in Fig. 3 so that at the start of the engine fliciently heated, practicallyv the whole'of theexhaust gases are diverted into the jacket 9. iWhen the retort is sufficiently heated the plates 16 operate to. efi'ect closing movement of the valve to vary the volume of exhaust gases passing through'chamber 9 to maintain constant the amount of heat admitted to the jacket 9.

To vary the initial angular disposition of the flapper valve 11 in the manifold 6 the rod 14 may be entered to a greater or lesser thereto for that purpose.

heavy moist parretort 10. In the construction illustrated these plates are attached to*a short tube 20 held to the wall of the chamber 18 by bayonet slot 20 and grub screw 20. The moist 1 particles mentioned are subjected in the retort 10 to heat to a degree effecting complete vapourization. The vapour passing out of the retort into the along tubular chamber or pipe 21 by the air stream induced by engine suction. This tubular chamber 21 delivers through a tapering outlet 22 into the engine.

The flat flapper valve 11 may be con structed of metal capable of distortion under heat as of bi-met'allic sheet so that it assumes a curve or droop at the against the outer surface of which the heated gases passing along exhaust manifold 6 impinge' and act in conjunction with. the plates 16 to effect closing movement of the valve 11. By the means above described the liquid fuel spray is divided into the finest possible particles, so that each is surrounded by the best efiectiveproportion of air. By the combination of themarious features constituting the invention. a supply of dry stable mixture is furnished, upon which an internal ,comb ustion engine is dependent ,for maximum thermal. and mechanical efiiciency and this is in direct proportion to the dryness of a proper charge, which should be as uniform as possible for all cylinders in every cubic inch thereof. When mixtures are wet.that is when incompletely vapourized-the air and fuel cannot be uniformly distributed to the various cylinders by the present manifold system. One cylinder will get a different charge from another, as can be easily proved by pressure gauges. ,There are rarely two cylinders alikeas to. maximum pressures in a multi-cylinder engine using wet mixtures. v, J

By the use of this invention this fault and the carbonization vapourization of the liquid in the presence of the. burning gas when it has been EIHIIllllGCl to the cylinder in liquid state, is remedied. 5 Againby employing the additional mechanical mixing by spraying the wet vapour over baflie plates before the heavier portions of the fuel in their undivided state arecompelled by their inertia to enter the heat-repassage lfigis drawn outer edge that arises frointhe a lengthy unj acketed tort, the resultant partially heated homogeneous mixture is enabled to pass through ex ansion chamber, or induction reservoir, without undue condensation taking place. .Further a straight discharge of the sprayed fuel stream from the jet of the bathe-plates and its effective diversion sothat subsequent deposition or condensation of the heavier fractions beyond the retort cannot take place before they are heat treat-- ed is also obtained.

The finely divided fuel is projected in minute globules into the retort chamber, the arrangement being such that practically none of the air forming the thischamber. The heavy fuel in the retort chamber is not subjected to superheating, as

' there is always a quantity of liquid fuel in the retort being vaporized. Following its issuance from the chamber in vapour orm the fuel mixes with the carburetted mixture or main mixture stream passing to the engine. I

Since the superheating ofthe, vapour is prevented by the automatic thermostatic heat regulation factor the only factor causing variations in the temperature of the resulting mixture is," with any one fuel, that of variations in the proportions ofthe mixture. Furthermore, consistent with the state in which the fuel exists in the final mixture, the temperature of that mixture is the minimum possible and practically constant varying only within five degrees F. plus or minus under all conditions of operation from idling to highest speed.

From both commercial and operative points of view, theprevention of superheating of the vapour is of extreme value. All that is necessary in this direction is so to proportion the surface area of the vapourizing chamber and exhaust temperature to the quality of fuel, that the result sought is attai-ned under the least favourable conditions of operation. This being done, thetemperature of the mixture is inflexible and is automatically fixed over the whole range of operation by that inherent characteristic of the fuel used. its heat of vapourization.

ln operating an internal combustion englne with open throttle and high speeds, lessheat is needed, as the cooler the mixture the higher the volumetric efiiciency, but with throttle nearly closed on light loads, the mixture supply is cut down and added heat must be supplied to prevent loading uporj condensation due to velocity reduction in chamber 17 and beyond and this is afforded by this invention.

Further it is fundamental that a manifold of the hot-spot type should have this heated area so designed that the heat is applied to that part of the charge only which requires it for vapourization, while the remaining carburettor employed on. to the mixture enters part which has alread been vapourized or gasified cpmpletelybe ore reaching the hotspot should scarcely touch this heated portion. These conditions are accomplished by the angle of'incidence of the mouth of the heated retortto the direction of jflow of the'stream of fuel mixture from the carburetter primary atomiz ing orifice.

I claim: h I

1. A fuel mixture heater comprising means to effect the separation of the heavier particles of a carburetted'mixture, means to ch ge the direction of flow of the mixture, a i dtort at the side of the direction of flow and having a single opening into said direction changing means adjacent the point, of deviation thereof, means adjacent the engine exhaust manifold to heat said retort by exhaust gases, a by-pass for said gases, a thermostatically controlled valve to control said gases eitherto the heating means or directly to the atmosphere and a deflector to direct the heavier particles into said retort.

2. A fuel mixture heater comprising means to effect the expansion of a carburettedmixture, means to change the direction of said mixture after expansion, a retort at the side of the line of flow, and having a single constricted opening into the path of flow of the mixture adjacent the point of deviation thereof, means to deflect separated liquid after said expansion into said retort, means at an angle thereto, deflection means in said chamber adjacent said pipe, a retort open-' ing into said pipe adjacent said chamber and arranged to receive separated liquid from said deflecting means, a heating chamber surrounding the retort. means to conduct engine exhaust gases to said heating chamher, a by-pass for said gases to. the atmosphere, and a thermostatic valvecontrolling the flow of engine exhaust gases either to the atmosphere or to said heating chamber.

4. A fuel mixture heater for internal combustion engines, comprising a conical expanding chamber, an arcuate pipe connected to the larger endof said chamber, a tapering outlet for said pipe. a pocket or retort opening into the side of said pipe near 1ts junction with said chamber and through which fuel mixture does not pass, said retort arranged to receive liquid partlcles of fuel by reason of their inertia, and means to heat said retort by exhaust gases, said pocket beingout of, the line of flow of fuel mixture through said pipe.

Dated this twenty-second day of Decemb me. a. HAMILTON-GRAPES.

a which the chamber discharges and arranged 

